The season two premiere of Stranger Things is only six weeks away. Since August Netflix has released several posters to get viewers back in prime throwback 1980s-mode. Netflix’s marketing team was careful to suggest their source material without being exact duplicates of past posters, but some are closer than others. It’s all about getting viewers prepped for another trip to the Upside Down, and a darker sophomore season. We’ve already seen the kids sporting Ghostbusters costumes in previews. And earlier posters carried images inspired by the work of motion picture poster artists that defined late 20th century film advertising, like John Alvin, Drew Struzan, and Bob Peak. It all started with the season two general homage to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and twelve character posters (all shown below). If you’ve ever collected movie posters, you know how close the creators got these to the fading prints after all these years, plus posters in the 1980s were often shipped folded to theaters just like many of their creations for the series this summer.
The new round of posters focuses even more on the horror pop culture with a nod to the B-movie genre. If these posters are any indication, adding to the Stephen King, John Carpenter, and Steven Spielberg callbacks throughout season one, expect even more horror in season two a la Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, and even Paul Michael Glaser (that’s right Starsky from Starsky and Hutch directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man). We’re not sure how The Running Man fits in other than a unique poster to emulate, but maybe the action will be kicked into higher gear this year.
So check out these posters (below and above) and their inspirations from Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, Ridley Scott’s Alien, Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead, Glaser’s The Running Man, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, Stephen King’s Firestarter, and the Stand By Me adaptation of King’s original story, The Body. The Elm Street match-up may be the best because of the common show’s Nancy reference. But the picture they all form is pretty clear. Michael Jackson’s Thriller backed the summer’s best preview from San Diego Comic-Con 2017 seen here. Darkness and nostalgia are coming.
